A Muslim woman in the southern Indian state of Kerala has received death threats after leading prayers for a mixed congregation in an act of defiance against established Islamic practice. Jamida Beevi is thought to be the first woman to lead Friday prayers in India for both male and female worshippers, doing so at Wandoor Cherukod village in Malappuram last week. She also delivered a sermon on gender justice.

“I believe in the Qur’an and the Qur’an teaches equality between the sexes. All this discrimination against women is manmade, imposed by the male clergy and I want to change it,” said Beevi, 34, speaking to the Guardian by phone on Tuesday. TradiBeevi said she believed the Qur’an contains no injunction that says only men can lead prayers. She belongs to a small sect called the Qur’an Sunnat Society; it believes only in the Qur’an, not in the hadith – the statements made by the prophet on a variety of subjects and written down by his followers after his death. Most orthodox Muslims believe in both the Qur’an and the hadith.tionally a male imam leads prayers, except when the congregation is all female.(theguardian)…[+]